 (defn configuration
   "Extract or produce a Hadoop `Configuration`.  If provided a `conf`
 argument, coerce it to be a `Configuration` which if possible shares
-mutable state with that original argument."
+mutable state with that original argument.  If not, return a fresh
+configuration copied from the current default."
   {:tag `Configuration}
-  ([] (Configuration.))
+  ([] (Configuration. *default*))
   ([conf] (configuration* conf)))
 
 (def ^{:tag `Configuration} iguration

(def ^{:tag `Configuration} ig
  "Alias for `configuration`."
  configuration)

(defn get
  "Get string value of `conf` parameter `key`"

  "Merge key-value pairs `kvs` into Hadoop configuration `conf`."
  [conf & kvs] (merge! conf (partition 2 kvs)))

(defmethod configuration* Configuration [conf] conf)
(defmethod configuration* Configurable
  [cable] (.getConf ^Configurable cable))
